Category Archives: Weigh Ins

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a weekly weight on here! Granted, it’s becoming harder to weigh in on exactly the same day since I prefer a particular set of conditions for weigh-in day (post-run, etc.) and my schedule keeps changing. But have no fear: I will post a weekly weight, but the date might change here and there depending on when I’ve run and all that.

Of course, I do know that some of the post-run weight-loss is water weight, but I figure, as long as the number continues to trend downward (and it does!), why not give myself the extra delight of clocking a slightly lower weight? It’s not like I’m not losing weight aside from the sweat!

That all being said, before yesterday I hadn’t weighed in for a little over two weeks because of some very persistent PMS bloating. I knew I was following my program, staying within my points, and working out regularly as per usual — so I knew in the end I’d be fine, but didn’t want to see those ugly bloating numbers.
Here are yesterday’s results:

Last Week(ish): 153.9This Week: 149.6Loss Since Last Week: 4.3 lbsLoss Since January: 33.7YOWZA. That’s a lot of milestones at once!

1. I have officially lost over 30 lbs since January!
2. I am OUT OF THE 150’s. May this moment live on forever!
3. This weigh-in occurred after my longest run of all time, but the run was NOT a sweaty one since it was cold outside. I am VERY pleased! I weighed myself no fewer than 6 times, allowing the scale to re-set between weigh-ins, before I decided it was not a fluke. I am still semi-skeptical since that’s a big loss for 2.5 weeks, but I’m also excited. At the very least, I’ve no doubt that I am continuing to lose. By how much remains to be seen. I suppose such a weigh-in is proof that if I stick with the plan, even if I am up TEN WHOLE LBS during my period, all that weight does always go away, and then some. I’ve been “feeling” skinnier lately as the bloating has gone down. That feeling of being a bit smaller makes me inclined to trust the scale.Must try to remember this glorious feeling next time I’m stressed about PMS weight.

Looks like I triumphed over my early-week gain! I wish I had lost just a little more this week, but I’ve done what I can do. Here are the week’s numbers:

Last Week:163.8This Week: 162.5Loss Since Last Week: 1.3Loss Since January: 20.8

Well, though I was hoping to lose 1.7 again (my WW weigh-in is Sunday though so, you never know what could happen between now and then…) I have officially broken into having lost over 20 lbs. That’s exciting.

I told Chelsea I’ll be more excited when it’s thirty lbs, but progress is progress. Maybe last weekend’s extra noshing made the difference between the 1.3 loss and my more typical 1.7? Who knows.

Chelsea, as always and ever, is my biggest supporter and biggest fan. When I saw online that some fellow WW-ers had made visual representations of their success so far, I got it in my head that I wanted to try and make my own. It’s a simple task, really: I just required two small mason jars and some colored rocks. Yesterday, Chelsea said she’d like to take me to the store so I could pick up these few items and begin to assemble my jars! She’s the best.

I don’t have pictures yet — the signs I painted for each jar are not yet dry — but here’s what I did.

I broke each pound into quarters, so that 1.0 lbs would be represented by 4 pebbles. That seemed to be more “exact” to me than doing whole lbs. (What if I lose 2.4 lbs in one week or something, you know? Then I’m trying to remember from the week before what I need to add, blah blah blah.) I filled one jar with “17.5 lbs worth” of pebbles, and the other with the remaining 35 lbs to go.

At Michael’s (the craft store), Chelsea found these super cute little wooden tags. We bought two, and I used puffy paint from home to label the tags “Lbs Lost” and “Lbs to Go” — they’re still drying, but soon they’ll adorn my jars.

The point of this craft is twofold. The visual of how much success I’ve had so far makes me proud; the visual of how far I still have to go makes me humble. Overall, I love the idea of these little jars. It’s a way to show, outside my body, the work I’m putting in and the success that results.

A great, big THANK YOU to Chelsea for encouraging the project and for procuring the materials! I’m so excited to show the finished product. And, for the record, I would never have gotten this far without her love and support. She practically moved those 17.5 lbs worth of pebbles herself!

Those of you who have been reading a long time know that my period and it’s wily, erratic schedule and it’s cantankerous bloating often mess up a week or two out of every six weeks. It always leaves me a little confused and frustrated, and it always makes my weighing in more complicated. Sometimes I gain; sometimes I use a weigh in from earlier that week or wait a day or two until bloating desists, etc. to get a more accurate weight.

(This is, by the way, one of the things I like least about WW: the weekly weigh-in on an appointed day. I know it’s necessary for accountability but sometimes I think it breeds more anxiety than it assuages.)

WELL.

Today, for the first time ever, I completely and utterly beat my bloating! My period began this morning, so I was expecting an ugly weigh-in.

Expecting it, mind you, despite having eaten within my points and gaining a ton of exercise points this week.

But when I hopped on the scale, lo and behold: I had lost 0.5 lbs!

WHAT THE WHAT

It’s certainly not the 2.0 a week I’ve been losing, but I can gain up to 5 lbs when I bloat and I’m definitely bloated now. I feeeel it, you know? And if the scale went down despite that bloating — well. MY STARS. Gosh golly gee. Just imagine what I’ll weigh next Friday when my bloating goes down!

Alright, yeah, I kind of faked you out. I have no interest in formatting this as though it were a story.

But I guess I’ll begin with an anecdote.

When I was a kid, I loved (and STILL love) Saul Bellow’s book, Henderson The Rain King. If you’re a Counting Crows fan, take note: they wrote that song about that book! In the book, the protagonist — Henderson — feels frustrated at all the things he has not yet become or accomplished in his life. “Time to burst the spirit’s sleep!” he shouts. “I am tired of becoming! I want to BE!” He then rants awhile about how the world is made up of two types of people — be-ers and become-ers. He wants to be the former, but fears he’s wasted too much time “becoming.”

I hear that, Henderson.

There’s something to be said for creating yourself. Also, for just being whoever you are. Also, for the process that creation requires.

Recently, I remarked to Chelsea than in another twenty lbs or so (down 17 since January, looking to be down a total of 30 more) I’ll “look the part” of a runner more. Right now, my saying I go on 5 mile runs and the body that does those runs doesn’t really match — to me. I know it’s not a really factual experience of the world. But I feel like I am “becoming,” instead of just being.

It occurred to me this morning that by running at all, I am BE-ing a runner. Already, I have fashioned myself into a runner. I might not be as thin or as fast as I want, but if running five days a week doesn’t make you a runner, what does?

And so, there’s a little corner of my life where I AM.

Of course, it was a process to get here, wasn’t it? There were 9 full weeks of Couch to 5K. Lots of time agonizing over the scale. New workout clothes. Better-fitting-old-workout-clothes.

The bottom line, though — the “who I AM” part of it all — wasn’t an evolution, really, when it comes down to it.

The day I committed to running 5 days a week with no excuses, I stopped “becoming” and started to “be” someone who runs.

OKAY OKAY. This is starting to get very “meta” ( #someta, as one of my best friends, Susanna, might say).

I don’t mean for it to be. I do have a point!

Weight loss is certainly a process. It’s a process that can sometimes feel like an ENDLESS cycle of becoming, becoming, becoming — never small enough, ten more lbs, messed up today, setting deadlines, new clothes, old clothes, people’s reactions — a never-ending evolutionary process where we are always in flux.

That “becoming” sometimes becomes a pair of blinders on our eyes. We remain so focused on what we might be soon that we forget what we are right now.

The minute you make one right choice, you are healthier. The minute you track your meals without exception AND WITHOUT MERCY ON YOURSELF, you are healthier. The minute you decide you are not going to throw it all away at this holiday or that, you are healthier.

Try this: Instead of saying “I am trying to become healthier,” say to yourself, “I am someone who does makes healthy choices.” And then when you make those good choices, instead of telling yourself those good choices are novel, just see them as a part of who you are.

You are evolving, sure. You’re learning new things about yourself and your body, probably. I mean, I certainly am. But there’s something in you that has already decided to BE — it’s your spirit’s sleep bursting. Your Henderson moment.

Pretend, if you will, that you are a book. Pretend this week is a chapter. Pretend it’s being taken and put in an anthology or is the only preview available on Google Books. Envisioning it? Ok. What would someone know or see about you, if this week was all they’d be working with? Would they see you twenty pounds ago, or twenty pounds from now? Nope, they’d see you this week. Would they see the yo-yo-ing that came before, with your weight bouncing around for years? Nope, they’d see you this week. Would they see you feel embarrassed about eating a cookie? Nope, they’d see you this week eating an apple.

We are a summation of our histories, our stories, our memories — they’ve shaped us; they’ve made us. I know. Obviously, right? But we are also RIGHT NOW. Who you are, RIGHT NOW, is who you are.Not who you were or will become.

And so from now on when I get discouraged about the 35 extra lbs that I WANT GONE, I will tell myself: “Self, I know where you want to go. But look at yourself right now and enjoy the ride. You weigh 166.3 lbs, not 190 anymore. You’re a runner. You make good choices. You’re not adrift in the ocean; you’re steering the ship. You’re someone who steers the ship.”

Well, if you count Sundays as “Day 1,” anyway. I ran Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday this weekend. Was irritated at myself for not running Tuesday and Wednesday.

So, my current running pattern:

— Walk at 4.0 for five minutes to warm up.

— Run for 5 minutes at 5.0

— “Sprint” (such that my slow sprints are) for 2 minutes at 6.0

— Rest 30 seconds

— Repeat, ad infinitum.

Today, I stayed on the treadmill for over 60 minutes. If you take out 5 minutes for warmup and about 4:30 for resting, I still ran about 51 or 52 minutes out of the 60 which is pretty good. If you ask me, anyway.

Today is a huge leap forward and PR for me. I am pleased!

I don’t really know if it counts as “cheating” to rest for those 30 seconds every 7 minutes. It’s not even like I’m dying and NEED the break, but it makes running so long seem like it’s broken into chunks which is good and helpful for when I get bored.

Lastly, the internet didn’t work yesterday so no Netflix while running for me. I listened to music instead and actually much preferred it.

So that’s that.

Goal: To keep running with this pattern until it becomes even more comfortable. And then to decrease rests to 20 seconds. Later, to 15. Later still to 10. Eventually, none.

Alternatively, I might run at 6.0 for 3 minutes instead of 2 each set.

I never include the number of lbs I’ve lost since starting WW in 2011, because I yo-yo-ed a lot the past few years. I think it’s not fair or accurate to say that two years or three years of focused effort resulted in however many lbs of loss — I’ve been working hard since January and this time it’s sticking, so that’s how I count it. It feels disingenuous to count from 2011.

However, if you were wondering, since 2011 I have lost a total of 29.8 lbs.